I don't know about you, but I've had my share of bad coworkers. People like that can literally suck all the joy out of doing your work. And sometimes, you can't help but to want to get back at them.
So I thought you might enjoy finding out how some clever coworkers did just that. I bet these stories will make your day, ha, ha. Let's check it out.
"Working in a male-dominated industry, I once had a co-worker who went off on me in front of a room full of people that I 'shouldn't just expect to make as much money as men.' This was after he got really mad about things like women's categories and leagues in sports. I looked at him at said, 'I don't expect to make as much as you, as a matter of fact, I make more money than you because I am not an asshole.' He stomped off after other male co-workers in the room told him that he had just committed harassment. Flash to a year later...I still make more money than him and we have both graduated and gone on to full-time jobs. He asked me once if he could list me as a reference, and I said 'no,' that I could not lie to his potential employers."
I can't believe he had the gall to ask for a reference after that.
"Coworkers constantly misspell my name, so I have just started misspelling or completely making up new names for people in return. I don't do this when first meeting someone if they get my name wrong, but if it's someone I've worked with for years, I will call you Carla even though your name is Carrie. No regrets."
Learn the darn name already, no?
"I worked for a research center that treated me worse than dog [expletive]. Left there for a job at a state regulatory agency. The company I was working for was developing a cleanup process to process chemical waste. The state needed someone to review their permit and guess who they picked? Me! The best part was the pilot plant caught fire and burned to the ground the night before their permit review. Permit DENIED and no way to claim it was a conflict of interest."
Nice!
"An unfriendly coworker used to use my Keurig in my cubicle all the time. She brought her own pods in, so I really didn’t care. Then she started emptying my Brita pitcher to fill her water bottle up every day after I left and never refilled it. Annoying, but whatever. Then one day, a friendly co-worker was standing at the entrance to my cube talking to me about a serious operation his wife needed to get soon. He was clearly worried and needed to talk to someone. The unfriendly walked up behind him, tapped him on the shoulder, and snapped, 'You’re in the way.' The guy seemed embarrassed, apologized, and walked off.
She walked in, started her coffee, and walked off while it brewed. I grabbed my bottle of MiO blackberry water flavoring and squeezed probably 1/3 of the bottle in her cup as the coffee filled it. She never used my Keurig or water pitcher again."
I guess she'll be getting her own coffee machine from now on, huh?
"The first thing a coworker I normally work nights with does is put a sticky note on the break room saying they're using the room for their break. It's normal on night shifts to take all your breaks in one go and take a nap. But normally, you talk to your coworkers about where everyone's gonna go. This one coworker is the only one who just puts a note on the door calling dibs. After months of kinda just being a little annoyed and finding other random weird spots to break, I found my inner petty self. Now I make sure to get to work 30 minutes early, and if it's that coworker on, I put a note on the door exactly like the ones they always did. It brings me great satisfaction to see them approach the break room sticky note in hand to then just walk away. And I sleep very well indeed."
Ha, ha!
"A group of us would go to lunch every week, and one of the guys always figured the check. After a while, it was obvious that he was overcharging the rest of us for his own benefit. One time, I insisted on figuring out the check, and I overcharged him. After stuttering around for a few minutes, obviously uncomfortable but unwilling to point out my math error, he pulled out his wallet and paid. He never cheated us again."
I love that.
"[I] quit, leaving him holding the bag for all the company's computer problems that the staff had come to expect to be reliably and quickly fixable ever since I was hired. The staff generally considered him to be a douche of the first water, and I agreed."
Yeah, let him figure it out.
"McDonald's job. One day [the manager's] humiliating me in front of customers, making a big deal because she told me to stay on register and like the smart ass I am, served 20 people in less than 5 minutes and had her running around like mad trying to make drinks, get orders, make desserts and hand stuff out.
Anyway, I decided after that shift to quit... Few days later I get a call from the owner of the store. He says what happened was unfair, I shouldn't have had to quit my job because she was bullying me. She got laid off and can't work for any of the stores he owns. Probably even [McDonalds] again — they take workplace bullying seriously I think. Last I heard she moved interstate looking for work."
It's never okay to bully other people at work.
"I used to work in a warehouse where one other girl and I worked in one area together, except I did all the work while she played on her phone all day in between occasionally yelling at me for stuff I didn't do. I'd hustle to get the job done, and I cleaned up on recognition from supervisors who saw me hustling. She tried to blow it off when she got busted for slacking but never did clean up her act. She even occasionally had the nerve to tell me to 'calm down' because I work fast and she looked bad in comparison just standing there. Eventually, I found another job, but I made a point of not bothering to mention to this girl when my last day was. I knew she was going to be unpleasantly surprised by suddenly having to take over my job the next day, so I set her up to have the worst first day ever."
Look who's hustling now, eh?
"Not really a coworker but I was working valet when two guys pull up (I think they were on a basketball team) in a manual Honda civic and start talking [expletive]. I don't remember the details but I do remember I didn't use the clutch once."
Yikes!
"My dad was let off from his job in transportation because of his boss, and me and my siblings destroy the 5-star reviews they had."
Oh, don't mess with the family. Am I right?
"Not too long after I started working as a concierge, Terry, the weekday morning shift concierge whom I would relieve for his lunch break, began to feel threatened by me as I could easily keep on top of residents, guests, contractors, packages, and cars without much issue. It was one day I was working during the week that Terry had commented when he came in on Monday that the desk was a mess. Mind you I worked the morning shift on Sunday, I had no control, nor was/am I responsible for the concierges before or after me. Still, I was irritated that he commented on the desk being a mess like it was my fault.
So, when the next Sunday rolled around I went ahead and did my usual tidying up, but I extended it to cleaning out and organizing the drawers, throwing out old trash and the like, and I found a gold mine. I hadn't realized it immediately, but I found a giant stash of business cards from lord knows how many people. I knew Terry was the one who had collected them all, but he was the one who had said I needed to keep the desk tidy so I did what anyone seeking petty revenge would do and threw away nearly 400 business cards."
I bet he didn't like that, ha, ha.
"A co-worker that has consistently been lazy and tries to sabotage my work station while the manager is working to show that someone is worse at their job than her, is routinely bringing in her dirty dishes for us to wash thinking we wouldn't care or notice. She got in trouble for leaving half-filled mugs of coffee in the storeroom until they had curdled so now she's dumping them for us to wash. I'm not paid to do her dishes, so I've taken to the habit of if I see them, I bin them. Surprisingly, she's not bringing in her dirty dishes anymore."
Oh, I would be furious at that.
"I work at an animal shelter, and lots of dogs that come to our shelter don't have names so we get to name them. Last week we got a transfer of about 20 dogs from a shelter in New Mexico, all without names. It's kind of an unspoken rule that whoever bathes the dog on intake gets to name it, and it's common courtesy to not argue unless it's offensive. So my coworker named a dog 'Bentley' because she thought it was cute. One of our really coworkers was really annoyed by this and said 'Can you not give our dogs basic names?' (This same coworker has been known to give the dogs stupid names like 'Dooper') So we all proceeded to name all the dogs things like Spot, Benji, Rosy, Ruby, and Bella."
Ha, ha!
"An interesting coincidence happened today when I was stocking shelves at my side job and two girls decided to shoplift a few items and my supervisor asked them at the door if they were going to pay for those items. They were petty items as this was at a Dollar Tree, where everything is $1.25...They walked out with the items because as many people know, retail employees can be sued for physically stopping you for petty theft unless you're a properly designated security guard.
The coincidence came when me and a coworker who managed it decided to grab a bite together at my other job, where I could get us the employee discount. My coworker noticed after we walked in that the same two girls were sitting down across the lobby. I chuckled and we started eating when one of them was called over by my manager there for an interview to begin. Then the other one was interviewed. After they were done and walked out, I motioned my manager over and explained the incident that happened less than two hours prior. My coworker backed me up and she was very happy to dodge those two bullets. They are no longer under consideration for a position."
It's called karma!
"Coworker took my night shift napping reclining chair so I removed the cord so she can never recline on it. Then I took her old napping chair so she couldn’t go back to it."
Well, serves her right, no?
"I (18f) am a manager at a coffee place. I have a coworker (16m) who is extremely slow, unmotivated and has zero urgency. I am a rather high-strung individual and I want to get out of work on time. In his fashion, the kid drags his feet while I zip around getting my stuff and sometimes his stuff done as well. He also expects me to 'babysit' him while I am on duty and even expects me to when I am training.
Today I really wanted to leave on time so I could get some studying done for an exam I have in the morning. I finished all my duties and watched as he played on his phone and dragged his feet. I watched as the time ticked away and before you know it, it was past time for us to leave. Great. I also know that his mother gets very angry when she has to sit and wait for us to be finished with all of our tasks. I was getting more frustrated when suddenly a lightbulb came on. I’m done with all of my tasks, and he has more than enough time to finish with his.
I was sick of sitting and doing everything for him so I could leave early, so I took a seat. I mimicked what he did while I washed dishes for 45 minutes and sat on my phone. He came back after doing trash and proclaimed he was done with everything. I wandered out and explained… no you’re not! And watched as he realized, I did nothing of his. I got to sit and play on my phone for 20 minutes waiting for him as he zipped around. I know he’s probably gonna get yelled at by his mom. Sweet, sweet victory. I’m gonna do it again tomorrow!"
Oh, mommy won't like that!
"Someone kept on stealing my food so I put laxative in it, apparently the guy had a huge meeting and spent it in the bathroom the entire time, serves that dumb ass right. He came up to me threatening to tell HR, I shrugged my shoulders, said I was constipated and didn't expect someone else to eat my food."
OMG, serves him right, huh?
Even though I don't exactly condone evoking revenge on people, sometimes it's well-deserved, no? What do you think of that? I think these horrible coworkers got exactly what they needed to shape them up, ha, ha.
